Jen Kirkman’s new Netflix special, I’m Gonna Die Alone (And I Feel Fine), is bookended by sketches in which she has conversations with people whom she has little to nothing in common with. At the beginning of the special, the interaction is with an overly permissive mom and her drooling, half-wit son. At the end of the special, it’s with an older couple who disapproves of her anti-marriage material and a younger man who took away the wrong message from her act (namely, that she wants to have sex with younger men). Thematically, these sketches fit very well with the content of her stand-up act itself, which is largely about the struggles of fitting into society as a single, childless woman in her forties. Read More

Many comedians come to a point in their lives when they have to decide whether to relocate to New York or LA. The move is considered an inevitable and necessary step to advance their careers. While it’s not impossible to achieve big things in a smaller, secondary scene, it’s not terribly common. Sean White, however, is one of those people who’s talent is bigger than his zip code.

Originally from Alabama, Sean White is an emerging comedian based out of Chicago, IL. He’s been called a “Gem” by RE:Com Chicago Comedy magazine, “Killing it” by the Chicago Tribune, and was named one of the top 16 comics in Chicago by Chicago Magazine. Despite not having an LA or NYC address, White was recently able to catch the eye of A Special Thing Records who released his debut album Dead & Gone. It goes without saying White’s album has to be pretty amazing to earn a spot in the AST library next to Guy Branum, Bob Odenkirk, Jared Logan and many more hilarious comedians, but let’s elaborate anyway. Read More

Season 40 of Saturday Night Live must’ve been a particularly grueling one for the cast and writers of the show. Not only managing to actually churn out the show every week, but the super grand SNL 40 episode that by the time this season came to an end, it’s very easy to see them gas out in the final episode. Rather than do that, they knocked it out of the park with easily one of the strongest episodes of the season. The relied on Louis C.K. who has been a super strong host in the three times he’s helmed the wheel. Last night was no different, delivering a monologue most thin skinned will be groaning about the next day and some of the edgiest moments we saw all year. Read More

We’re not sure if you know this, but Scarlett Johansson is in a movie that opens this weekend. So if you were under a rock these last few months, now is probably your last chance to get up to speed on The Avengers movie prepping to take over the world. So with the entire cast of the movie appearing all over the place doing the promo rounds for the film, Scarlett – Scaaaarrrlleeeeett! – sorry that was because of Hannibal Buress. Anyway, Scarlett Johnansson returned to Saturday Night Live for a fourth time as host.

While SNL is normally used to being the most buzzed about event on Saturday Night, this night was a bit different as it was competing with the big Mayweather/Pacquiao fight. So the writers approached the evening accordingly. It turns out both events were kind of a bust. Let’s break it down. Read More

Once upon a time, there was a stand-up comedian named Bill Hicks… and for those truly unfamiliar with his legacy as a stand-up, some initial comparative context is necessary:

When Bill Hicks died in 1994, most of this current mid-to-late 20’s generation of comedians had just finished wrapping their heads around the genie from Disney’s Aladdin (released in 1992). While we were watching Jafar obsess about taking over the kingdom of Agrabah, Hicks’ own brand of acerbic sorcery sought to tackle the inimical ironies of American imperialism, fatalistic journalism, and the War on Drugs. Long before anger ever trended online, Bill Hicks was practically his own epicenter of cultural anger, taking on U.S. domestic themes throughout his career such as public smoking, the state of music, and corporate consumerism.

Though he only released two comedy albums in the course of his life – Dangerous in 1990, and Relentless in 1992 – his bits have been re-mixed and re-packaged tens of times, creating archival albums such as Arizona Bay, Rant in E-Minor, and Philosophy: The Best of Bill Hicks. He served as direct influences to the next wave of comedians such as Patton Oswalt, David Cross, Dave Attell, and Russell Brand, and is posthumously-proven to be one of stand-up’s all-time greats. Read More

As the Vice President of the United States, Selina Meyer was a woman on a mission. Any mission, in fact. Of (the most awkward) sorts. Disjointed ventures barely purported to win votes and carelessly undermined by P.O.T.U.S. (the President Of The United States) from episode one. And by her own staff, no less. Communication breakdowns due to office rivalries made for speeches that regularly needed last minute re-writes and that were not always delivered on time. So, what happened in those situations? The show must go on is everybody’s menu du jour and Selina’s was no different. She was forced to improvise – with embarrassingly results. Read More

You know it’s hard out there for a pimp. Taraji P. Henson has waiting many years to be an overnight success. From starring in Academy Award winning movies to critically acclaimed CBS dramas. But it wasn’t until the seemingly overnight success of her current project, Empire where Henson became a household name. And when that happens, the folks at Saturday Night Live came knocking and asked her to host the show and, it turns out, drop some killer Nicki Minaj and Wanda Sykes impersonations, that’s right, Henson has some moves. Let’s get to it. Read More

If you found the “forced kiss” scene with commitment-phobe Pam uncomfortable in season four (where she tells him “This would be rape if you weren’t so stupid”), you probably squirmed and melted into your seat towards the end of last night’s first episode of Louie. Season five fired off on all cylinders, and that’s not in a good way – but in a “Louie” way. Read More

Michael Keaton has hosted Saturday Night Live three times with some pretty hefty times in between. First in 1982, then in ’92, and now. So a lot happened in between those times. Like a new generation of people got a new Batman and Keaton is currently known more as Birdman. So, to say this might be the only time this current cast will be able to interact with Keaton could be accurate. That would be a shame, because Keaton was quite the natural in the hot seat. So let’s break down just how he did it. It’s showtime! Read More

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson returned for the forth time as the host of Saturday Night Live. While we wouldn’t call him a great comedic force, the man does posses a tremendous amount of charisma that can be traced all the way back to his camera promos in the WWE all the way to his current and highly enjoyable Instagram account. Last night on SNL, he might’ve added another notch on his belt, that that’s best host of the Saturday Night Live season 40. It’s pretty obvious Johnson enjoys hosting and he’s so damn good at it. Hell, with a man with the amount of charisma he deployed on us last night, we need to seriously start mentioning him when we talk about SNL all time great hosts. Let’s go to the tape. Read More